


No Ordinary Feline

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Happy Ending, Jonathan Sims is a human(ish) disaster, M/M, break up (just between Georgie/Jon), starts pre-show, the Admiral is a good kitty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22872013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: The Admiral is smarter than the average cat, and he sees everything that happens around him. And it's a good thing he's around, because he just knows that all of these foolish humans would get into far too much trouble without him.
Relationships: Basira Hussain/Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Georgie Barker & Jonathan Sims, Georgie Barker/Jonathan Sims, Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims
Comments: 30
Kudos: 163





	No Ordinary Feline

He had been lying curled up in his crate when the next couple came through the shelter to look for a pet. He didn’t bother getting up and performing. He was still fairly young, at least for a cat, but his last two homes hadn’t been so great, and he had decided that he would be content to never be adopted again.

He watched as some of the younger animals made total fools of themselves in their attempts to win over the humans, while he just grumbled about how foolish they all were. He only stared out at the humans with barely slitted eyes, and watched as the woman walked right past his crate, just like everyone always did.

It was something of a surprise, though, when the male paused, and then squatted down so that he could get a better look into the crate. He frowned as he took in the state of the cat. “I don’t really want a pet,” he admitted in a soft voice. “But Georgie thinks that- well, I’m sure you don’t care either way. You look like you’re not the sort to be too noisy or troublesome, though.” He stood back up and called the female- Georgie- over to look at the cat. “Maybe I’m crazy, but I think this is the one. He has a sort of noble look to him, doesn’t he?”

“Jon, no offense, but you’re not exactly…” she trailed off as she bent forward to peer into the crate. “Huh. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a fluffy cat before.” She jammed her fingers through the bars and wiggled them around.

The cat contemplated just biting them or scratching them to teach her not to go shoving her fingers in animals’ faces, but she looked so earnest, and he could tell that Jon had already made up his mind. Well, if he was going to be dragged off to be adopted, then it may as well be to this pair. They seemed friendly enough, and at this point, he was enough of an expert to know what the bad kind of humans looked like. 

So he slowly got up, stretched to get the kinks out of his back, and then sidled over to the wagging fingers. He bumped his head against them, and was rewarded with a noise of delight from Georgie. He’d never seen anyone get so excited about him before. 

The staff member on duty, an older man named Kienan, frowned when he saw where Jon and Georgie were looking. “Oh, that’s Francis. He’s got a bit of a troubled history. You might want to look into something a little more manageable-”

“He’s perfect,” Jon said firmly. Then he looked down at Georgie as he fidgeted awkwardly. “Er- that is if you- I mean, I wasn’t trying to just decide on my own, but I-”

She laughed as she stood back up. “It’s fine. I like him too. I’ll go fill out the paperwork, and you can get to know our new roommate a little better.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek, and then followed Kienan out of the kennel area and into the main lobby of the shelter.

Once Jon was the only human left in sight, he let out a heavy sigh. He gave the cat a long, considering look, and then smiled. “I bet the reason you’re a troublemaker is because of that name. Francis is such a stupid name. You deserve something much more distinguished. How about… Sir Francis? Hm?” The cat snorted, and Jon nodded in agreement. “No, no, you’re right. We should get away from Francis entirely. Still, I do like the ‘Sir’. Makes you sound a lot more noble.” It was fine if Jon wanted to change his name. It’s not as though the cat had ever been particularly attached to the one that he had been assigned by his first owner. “How about General Tabby Cat?” 

The cat narrowed his eyes. He didn’t understand why humans felt the need to classify all cats as separate creatures, but he still knew that he was not a tabby, and did not look anything like a tabby. He wasn’t sure if it was because Jon didn’t know what different cat breeds looked like, or if it was because Jon was just an idiot. 

After a few more minutes of listening to Jon muse about potential names, Georgie and Kienan came back. Kienan transferred the cat into a travel carrier, and the cat graciously allowed it. The drive back to Jon and Georgie’s flat was not a fun one, but it did have the advantage of helping him get to know his new humans a little bit better. They bickered back and forth with each other constantly, but they never actually seemed upset with each other. It was interesting, to say the least.

A short flight of stairs later, and the carrier was set down on the carpet of the cat’s new home. He slowly stepped out and squished down on the soft material below him, and then began to make his way around the flat as he took in every detail of the place. 

He found the litter box in a cupboard in the bathroom, and sniffed around until he was satisfied that he was the first cat to use it. He found the bowls of food and water on a rubber mat on the kitchen floor, and decided that the food was adequate enough (though honestly pretty much anything would be better than the cheap swill they served at the shelter). 

Once he was satisfied that he had thoroughly inspected everything in the small flat, he made his way back to the living room, where Jon and Georgie were both sitting on the sofa. Jon looked over at him even though he hadn’t made any noise to announce his presence, and started to pat his lap encouragingly. The cat hesitated for several long seconds- to prove that he would do nothing on anyone’s whims but his own- and then leapt up onto the couch.

Jon’s lap was too boney to be very comfortable, and Georgie’s lap looked much more inviting, but the cat had seen the way Jon fidgeted with his hands, and figured that the male was more in need of a comfort animal than the female was. So with great reluctance, he settled down. His own natural bulk did a decent job of making up for the lack of cushioning in Jon’s legs, and the soothing hand stroking along his back was also pretty convincing. 

“We’ve decided on your new name,” Jon announced proudly. “Sir Alexander Dundas Young Arbuthnott!”

“We’re not calling him that,” Georgie said in a very patient voice.

Jon sighed, and slumped back against the couch. “What if we just call him the Admiral for short?”

The cat looked carefully at Georgie’s face, which was already set to reject Jon’s idea. Then she looked at Jon, so the cat twisted his head around to look at Jon as well. He looked so utterly dejected, and when he turned back to look at Georgie again, he could see the exact moment that she gave in, which was a few seconds before her shoulders drooped in defeat. “Fine. The Admiral it is.” Then she reached over to scratch under his chin. “Are you okay with that name?”

It didn’t seem better or worse than Francis, so he just butted his head against Georgie’s hand. It was probably safest to stick with this new name, before Jon could come up with something much worse. As he got comfortable (which mainly meant shifting around so that he didn’t have to feel Jon’s knees poking into him), the Admiral found that it was actually quite nice to just lie there and be adored. It almost felt as though that was what he had been put on this planet to do, and he had never been one to try and argue against fate.  
,,,

It was nearing five, and Jon was just bursting through the front door, trying to juggle all of his books and binders. His favorite leather briefcase had broken a few days ago, but he still hadn’t gotten around to replacing it yet. The Admiral watched as Jon managed to get fully into the flat before dropping everything onto the floor, and was sure that the downstairs neighbors were going to complain about the noise.

Jon let out a loud noise of frustration, and then kicked the front door shut behind him before crouching down to start gathering the fallen school supplies. Even if Jon left right this second, he’d still be late to his date with Georgie, but that didn’t mean the Admiral was going to sit around and let him be even later than he had to be.

So he ran right up to Jon and started shoving his face against Jon’s leg to get the man’s attention. As soon as he had it, the Admiral let out five small yips in a row to indicate the time. Jon just stared at him blankly, and the Admiral wished he had the human capability to roll his eyes. He nudged his nose up against the watch on Jon’s wrist (it had been a birthday gift, so Jon wore it everyday even though it didn’t actually make him more punctual). He let out another five short noises to indicate the time, and then a look of realization washed over Jon’s face.

He leapt up to his feet so that he could presumably hurry to the bedroom and get changed, but ended up tripping over the heavy textbooks and landed flat on his face. The Admiral offered a sympathetic purr, and then wandered off, content that he had saved the date. 

Jon scrambled to get back to his feet, and then rushed through the flat to clean himself up, and then the Admiral watched from his perch on the back of the couch as Jon raced back out of the flat in record time. He wanted to laugh at how predictable Jon was in his absent-mindedness, but the Admiral decided to take pity, and he took a running leap off the back of the couch and swatted at the deadbolt lock so that it would properly engage. Now that the place was safe from invasion (not that there was anything of value in a flat that belonged to two university students), the Admiral went to the bedroom, blatantly stepping on each discarded piece of clothing, and then curled up on the bed, in the patch that still had a bit of sunlight left on it. He knew that he deserved a nice nap after a job well done. Honestly, what would those silly humans do without him?  
,,,

The Admiral yawned as he stretched, and then slowly ambled into the kitchen for his breakfast. He paused in confusion when he saw that there was nothing new in his food bowl, and the water was clearly at the same level that it had been last night. What was going on? 

He glanced up at the clock on the wall to confirm that it was past the time that both humans would have already left for work and classes. The three of them had all settled into a nice routine over the past two years, and it was one in which the Admiral slept as late as he wanted in the morning, because his breakfast would always be waiting for him when he decided to get up. The few times that he’d woken up early, he’d seen Jon in the kitchen, hair sticking out all over the place and glasses resting on the tip of his nose as he carefully measured out the exact serving of cat food. 

Unsure of why there had been a break in the routine, the Admiral headed to the bedroom to see if he’d be able to find any answers there. He had to admit that he was worried. What if Jon had gotten so distracted by something that he’d wandered off and gotten hurt? Or what if he’d fallen asleep in some weird place? What if Georgie was out searching for Jon right now? It’s not as though it would be surprising, since the Admiral was quite familiar with how useless Jon was at taking care of himself (and in fact it had been the source of quite a few arguments between his humans). 

When he poked his head into the bedroom, the Admiral’s confusion only deepened. The bed covers were neatly tucked in, even though Jon was always the last one out of the flat and never bothered to make the bed. And the usual pile of clothes that Jon always left on the floor when he changed for bed was conspicuously absent.

It was quite frustrating for the Admiral, because he couldn’t do anything to figure out what was going on. It was increasingly clear that Jon had never come home the night before. There was no new tea bag in the trash when the Admiral knocked the bin over, the towels in the bathroom weren’t damp (Georgie preferred to shower at night, while Jon always showered in the morning), the front door of the flat was perfectly locked instead of being left in that half-tilt that Jon always managed. 

But there was nothing the Admiral could actually do other than pace around and wait. So he waited and listened for the front door, and tried not to panic too much. When he finally heard the sound of the door opening, he rushed over to see if any answers would be revealed. Georgie usually got home first, but she never came back so early in the afternoon. 

She was by herself, and her hair was a mess, and she had a full shopping bag in each hand, which left her nudging the door open with her shoulder. She paused in the doorway when she saw the Admiral standing there, and then her eyes widened. “Shit, I totally forgot! I am so sorry, I just- Jon always refills the bowls in the morning, and I wasn’t thinking- shit!” 

Georgie went to the kitchen without taking her shoes off first, and dropped her groceries down on the counter with a heavy thud. She pulled out a can of cat food to dump into the bowl on the floor, and then grabbed the other bowl (which was now empty) and filled it up with water. 

When she was done, the Admiral assumed that she’d put away her groceries, but instead she sank down to the floor, and leaned back against the cabinets as she pulled her knees up to her chest. “Everything is such a mess. I know that- we weren’t-” The Admiral gave his food a longing glance, but then ignored it so that he could smush himself up against Georgie, and she immediately moved her knees forward enough that the Admiral could crawl into the space, and Georgie could press her face against his thick fur. “Jon and I broke up,” she finally confessed. “I’m going to be keeping the flat, and- and you. And I’ll have to get a new roommate soon, and-” She sighed, and the rush of air swept through the Admiral’s fur. “I think we both knew that this was coming. I mean, I still love him, and I know that he loves me, but we just aren’t right for each other, you know? I wish knowing that could actually make me feel better, but strangely enough, it doesn’t.” Then she didn’t say anything else, and the Admiral let her just hold him until he got too hungry to keep ignoring his food, and then he slipped away to eat. He knew that it was probably going to be a tiring job to comfort Georgie through this.  
,,,

It was strange getting used to Jon not living in the flat. Jon had come by the first weekend he could so that he could pack up all of his things and take them out. He spent a little while with the Admiral, and then had given a deep sigh before he’d said goodbye and left. 

The place felt too empty without Jon or his things in it. And there was never another morning where Georgie forgot to feed the Admiral, but it wasn’t the same. When he made the effort to wake up early and watch her, she didn’t have the same intense look on her face as she measured out the dry food. And even though Georgie loved the Admiral, they both knew that the cat had often played favorites in Jon’s favor. It wasn’t that he liked Jon more than Georgie, but that Jon seemed to need the Admiral more. But the Admiral couldn’t explain that to Georgie, which left things a bit awkward.

Despite what Georgie had said about needing a new roommate, no one else ever moved in, and the Admiral could only take guesses about how Georgie was paying for the two-person flat on her own. 

He watched as Georgie finished university, and she started doing a weird thing where she’d lock the Admiral out of the bedroom, and when he listened at the door he’d just hear her talking to herself about the strangest things. After a few months of that, Georgie started bringing home strangers to talk to instead of herself.

Of course the Admiral appreciated being fawned over by all of Georgie’s guests, and by Georgie herself, but he suspected that there would always be a part of him that would miss Jon. Maybe that was strange, since Jon had only been one in a long line of owners, and he hadn’t even been home most of the day anyways, but the Admiral couldn’t control how he felt any better than the humans could.

Eventually Georgie announced that they were moving somewhere nicer, and the Admiral prepared himself to be packed up like everything else in the flat. When moving day came around, it was the first time in years that the Admiral had been outside, but he didn’t have much time to appreciate it, since he had to put up with the nausea-inducing car ride to get to their new home.

The new place was much bigger than the old one. There were two bedrooms and a full sized kitchen. And there was a room that the Admiral didn’t quite know the purpose of, as he watched Georgie plaster the walls with large blocks of gray foam cut into weird wiggly shapes. When Georgie wanted to talk to herself or others, she started doing it in that room, and it was fully set up before even the main bedroom. 

Once they’d finished fully moving in and everything was unpacked, the Admiral figured that the second bedroom was his, and he was more than happy to flop down on the comfy bed. Though he ended up spending most of his daytime naps in Georgie’s room, because he found that there was something comforting about her scent.  
,,,

The years passed, and the Admiral was happy with his life. There was a constant parade of strangers traipsing through the flat to keep things fresh, and Georgie seemed to be happy with her job, which was apparently called ‘podcasting’, from what the Admiral could gather.

There was a girl who came by a couple of times that the Admiral didn’t like at all. He ended up acting completely undignified, and actually hissed at her. There was just something about her that was… wrong. Something rotten. Like a piece of meat that had been left in the fridge for too long. She also smoked, and the Admiral had never been fond of the smell of smokers. He was glad that she only came by twice.

One woman who came by a bit more often than the others, named Melanie, was interesting. In many ways, she reminded the Admiral of Jon (though by the time he’d first met Melanie, he’d already spent far more years without Jon than he’d spent with the man). 

The Admiral liked her, though, because she often brought him weird new treats from other countries, and she always scratched at just the right spot behind his left ear. So he was understandably concerned when there was a loud pounding on the door one day, and Melanie’s voice shouting through the thick material.

Georgie looked just as confused as the Admiral felt when she put down the sandwich she was in the middle of eating, and hurried to answer the door. Melanie barged in, and stomped to the center of the living room before turning to look at Georgie, hands on her hips. “What the fuck?”

Georgie blinked a couple of times, and then frowned. “Shouldn’t I be the one saying that, all things considered?”

Melanie did not look to be in any mood to be appeased. “That fucking sound engineer you recommended-”

“What did she do wrong? She’s always seemed perfectly professional and competent when we’ve worked together, but I suppose I do have a pretty small sample size.”

Melanie shook her head. “She- oh what’s the point? You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you!”

Georgie raised one eyebrow. “You do remember that I have an entire podcast about very weird and unbelievable things, right? Come on, I’ll make some tea, and then you can tell me what happened. I’ve never seen you look so freaked out before.”

A few minutes later, both women were settled down on the couch, sitting a little bit closer together than the Admiral would have expected. He stayed in the corner of the room, wanting to listen in without being shooed away. Melanie told an utterly bizarre ghost story, and the Admiral instinctively knew that it was true before she’d even finished talking. He knew that there was something off about that girl! He had been right to hiss at her, which meant that Georgie had been wrong to scold him for it!

When Melanie was done, Georgie grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch and gently draped it over Melanie’s shoulders. “Look, I- Well I have an old friend that might be able to- well, he would probably listen to your story, and maybe he’d be able to look further into it.”

Melanie’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What friend?”

Georgie sighed. “His name is Jonathan Sims, and he works in a place called the Magnus Institute.”

“The Magnus- Hey, I think I’ve heard of that place. Isn’t it where all the crackpots go to share their alien conspiracy theories?”

Georgie snorted. “I’m sure that not all of the stories there are fake. And Jon’s a good guy. He was actually promoted to Head Archivist near the beginning of the year.”

While Georgie and Melanie chatted for another few minutes, the Admiral slipped away to think about what he’d just learned. He’d had no idea that Georgie was still in contact enough with Jon to know where the man was working now, and he wondered why he’d never heard her talk to or about Jon before. If the Admiral was a braver cat, he might be tempted to follow Melanie out the front door and go with her to this place where Jon could be found. He wasn’t that brave, though, so the Admiral just curled up on Georgie’s bed and wondered if he’d ever see Jon again.  
,,,

It was late when the Admiral was woken up by the sound of someone knocking, though luckily for them, it wasn’t late enough that Georgie was in bed yet. She saved the clip she’d been in the middle of editing, and then made her way to the front door. “Who is it?”

“It’s uh, it’s Jon.”

Georgie furrowed her eyebrows, and shot the Admiral a confused look before unlocking the door and pulling it open. “Jon? What are you…” she trailed off, and the Admiral hurried over to get a better look. 

The Admiral wasn’t even sure how many years it had been since he’d last seen Jon, but he definitely did not remember Jon looking so awful. His skin had the waxy look that it got when he was sick, his glasses were crooked, his hair was a wild, tangled mess, his clothes were all rumpled, and there seemed to be some slivers of wood stuck all over him. Most important of all, though, was the look in his eyes. He looked frightened, and it wasn’t something the Admiral could remember ever seeing on Jon’s face.

Georgie ushered Jon inside. “You look awful.” Jon didn’t smile or try to crack an awkward joke in response. “What are you doing here?” she asked in a gentle voice.

Jon staggered over to the couch and sank down onto it. “I’ve er, I lost my job. And I can’t go back to my flat, so I don’t have any of my things.”

If those two facts were related, Jon didn’t explain. Georgie stared at him, but when no other words came out, she just sighed. “You’re lucky that I’ve got a spare room. Hang on.” She retreated to her bedroom for a minute, and then emerged with a pink ‘What the Ghost’ t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. “Here. I know they’ll be too big on you, but at least they’re clean.”

The look of gratitude on Jon’s face as he accepted the clothes was nearly overwhelming. The Admiral went into his bedroom, and waited patiently for Jon to finish changing and to get into bed. As soon as Jon was huddled under the blankets, the Admiral shifted over so that he was pressed up against Jon’s side, and he could tell that Jon was grateful to have someone to cuddle with.

It was obvious that Jon was trembling all over, even though it was a comfortable temperature in the flat, and his breathing was too erratic for him to be asleep. To show solidarity, the Admiral also stayed awake all night, and he stayed by Jon’s side. He was worried about his human- because the truth was that no matter how much time had passed, he still thought of Jon as his. 

Jon didn’t look any better in the morning, and that was probably the only reason that Georgie didn’t try to interrogate him further about what had happened to him. She just made him some eggs and toast, and then reached out to give him a comforting pat on the shoulder, though he flinched away from the contact. “You can stay here as long as you need,” she told him. “I have a few things to do for work, but I’ll be around all day if you need to talk about anything, okay?”

Jon gave her a smile that came out more like a grimace. “Thank you.” Yeah, the Admiral was definitely going to have to spend all day with Jon. If he didn’t keep an eye on the man, who knew what other kind of trouble he’d get into?  
,,,

When Jon shuffled home and then immediately went into the bathroom, the Admiral didn’t think much of it. When there was a loud shout of pain several minutes later, the Admiral started to think that it might be an issue. He was tall enough when he stood on his hind legs that he could pull down the handle and open the bathroom door, so he did just that.

Jon was sitting on the toilet, but the lid was closed and his borrowed pants were still up. He was shaking badly, and there was a spilled bottle on the floor, and a roll of bandages in one of Jon’s hands. His other hand looked to be badly burned. “Don’t come closer,” Jon warned in a hoarse voice. “I don’t know what hydrogen peroxide does to cat feet.” 

He wrapped the bandage around his burned hand, wincing the whole time, and then got up so that he could grab a towel and wipe up the spilled solution. He set the bottle back into the medicine cabinet, and then stumble his way over to the living room couch. The Admiral followed and jumped up onto Jon’s lap. With whatever was going on, Jon definitely needed the comfort.  
,,,

When Jon and Georgie got into an argument, the Admiral realized that it was the first time he’d ever actually heard them fight. Whatever led to their breakup was not something that had happened within the Admiral’s range of hearing. He found that he really was not fond of listening to them get upset with each other. And even worse was that he was torn about which one he was supposed to follow to offer his comfort to.  
,,,

Jon kept saying that he was going to move out, so when the Admiral stopped seeing him around, he didn’t think much of it. Not until Georgie came home and dropped to the floor to scoop the Admiral up into a tight hug. “Jon’s in a coma,” she told him, voice whisper-soft. “That idiot…”  
,,,

When Melanie started spending more time in the flat, the Admiral decided that it wasn’t so bad. She wasn’t as kind as she used to be, though she never did anything that was specifically mean. There was just something about her that was different, more hardened, and the Admiral hated that he could see the problem, but there was nothing he could do about it. When he tried to claw at her leg to let her know that it smelled rotten, he was just chastised. Jon had always been the best at understanding the Admiral, but Jon was still in his coma, so the Admiral could do nothing but watch as Melanie got more and more angry.  
,,,

Georgie told the Admiral that Jon had woken up, though she didn’t sound as happy about that as the Admiral would have expected. He wanted to see Jon, to make sure for himself that the man was alright, but Georgie didn’t know how to listen to his request, and the Admiral resigned himself to being as useless as always.  
,,,

The Admiral wasn’t sure why Georgie had headed out, since it wasn’t grocery day or laundry day, and he found himself waiting curiously by the front door. He didn’t expect her to come back with Melanie, who had thick white bandages wrapped around the top part of her head, and a long thin cane in one hand. 

He watched over the next few days as Melanie fumbled to get around, and he started to let out a loud squeak if she was about to collide with anything. He was glad to be able to help in at least that small way.  
,,,

When the Admiral heard Jon’s voice at the door, he darted towards it, but Jon didn’t even glance down at the cat. He was just giving Georgie a desperate look, which extended to Melanie when she made her way over. He ended up leaving without even coming inside, and the Admiral wondered why two people he cared about so much wouldn’t even help his other favorite person when he’d been all but begging.  
,,,

The Admiral didn’t like being forced into the life of an outdoor cat. The whole world felt wrong, like everything was made of rotten meat. And there were so many people who smelled all wrong, and it made the Admiral want to hiss at everything. But he couldn’t, because both Georgie and Melanie had warned him multiple times that they needed to be as quiet as possible while they moved around the world. The Admiral hated it, and wished desperately for the comfort of his flat and his routine.  
,,,

They eventually met up with Jon and a few other humans that the Admiral didn’t recognize. He darted right over to Jon, and Jon dropped down to his knees to press kisses into the Admiral’s fur. Apparently he didn’t care that it was dirty and matted and had not been properly washed or combed out in months. 

There was something strange about Jon. He didn’t smell normal, but he didn’t smell rotten, either. And there was an unusual gleam in his eyes that almost looked like the Admiral’s eyes did when someone took his photo in the dark.

Jon stood back up, clutching the Admiral slightly tighter than was comfortable (though he didn’t bother fighting it, because he enjoyed the contact). “Martin, remember when I told you about the Admiral? Well this is the man himself, in the-” everyone seemed to cringe at the same time, and Jon hurried on. “Come pet him! I told you that he’s the softest cat ever, right?”

One of the unfamiliar humans cautiously approached and stuck his hand out in front of the Admiral’s nose. He was kind of like Jon, in that he didn’t smell like a normal person, but he seemed nice enough as he let the Admiral get used to his scent. Actually, now that he thought about it, the Admiral realized that this stranger smelled a lot like the jumper that Jon was wearing. It must have been his. Then the man moved his hand up and scratched at the Admiral’s neck, and it felt divine. “Hello, I’m Martin,” he introduced himself. The Admiral decided that he liked Martin.  
,,,

Their group stuck together for a while, and even though the scenery constantly changed as they stayed on the move, they fell into their own routine, of sorts. Daisy and Basira were always scouting ahead while they walked (which the Admiral was glad for, because something about Daisy grated on his nerves. It was like if he was asked to walk around next to a human-shaped dog, or something), while Georgie, Jon, Melanie, and Martin all stuck together. Sometimes Jon would whisper that there was something coming, and all of them would shuffle over to the side of the road to hide behind whatever would provide cover. 

It wasn’t the most comfortable life, but the Admiral felt safe with his humans, and he was glad that he was able to watch over all of them. They got themselves into far too much trouble when the Admiral wasn’t there, as evidenced by the world being in its current hellish state.  
,,,

The Admiral wasn’t sure how long it had been since Georgie had first scooped him up and dragged him and Melanie away from home. He also wasn’t sure how long it had been since they’d met up with Jon and the others. And he definitely didn’t know when he’d stopped being aware of the rotten smell of everything, because he’d gotten so used to it permeating every single breath. 

But he did know that he could smell it the moment things started to change for the better, even if it did take longer than anyone had hoped for the rotten-ness to fade away entirely. He knew that he was overjoyed to return home, even if it was a mess and didn’t really resemble the home that they’d left behind. 

And the most important thing of all was that he knew his humans were safe and happy, and he knew that he was unbearably grateful that he had been adopted that day so many years ago. Really, it had been best for everyone, because all his humans would have been utterly useless without him.


End file.
